The totally different aspect presented by the West of
Europe, after the destruction of the Western Roman Empire, combined with the
degenerated state of Roman civilization, necessarily required a new development
of the minds of those whose energy and valor had subdued the degraded
descendants of cultivated antiquity. Great as were the powers of mind possessed
by these hardy conquerors, the rude and warlike habits acquired in their native
forests were too firmly interwoven with their very nature, to be immediately
exchanged for the refinement of the country they had vanquished. The effeminate
Romans accommodated themselves more readily to the manners and customs of the
invaders; and hence, in a short space of time, the remembrance, and a few fragments,
of former civilization alone remained—the frail memorials of departed grandeur.
It was, therefore, unaided by external influence, that the faculties of the
northern warriors item developed. The process was indeed, slow; so slow, that
the lapse of a thousand years was requisite to enable them to profit by the
arts and sciences, which, on their first approach, had been overwhelmed by the
tide of barbarism. This insensibility to external influence tended essentially
to the preservation of their independence. Fortunately, most fortunately, the
heartless, prejudiced, enervated character of the then modern Roman, who possessed
not faculties even to comprehend, far less to imitate, the glory of his
ancestors, remained totally alien to the new possessors of the soil, who
imbibed only the vivifying element of Christianity. The Christian religion was
the main spring of all intellectual efforts, during the whole of the interval
that elapsed between the loss and the recovery of ancient civilization; and
literature was altogether under the conduct and control of her ministers. Few
were the intellectual luminaries that shone forth in those days of darkness,
very few were so brilliant as to exercise any direct influence on the present
age. The venerated names, the hallowed writings of that period, ceased to
retain the importance with which opinion had invested them, so soon as the
progress of intellect enabled mankind to appreciate and to study those models
which a gracious Providence had rescued from destruction and oblivion. Their
labors, however, have not been in vain, their utility has surpassed their fame.
To extend the knowledge of the merits of a celebrated man of this period, and
to render a tribute to his memory, by redeeming a portion of that debt which
mankind should gratefully acknowledge to one who labored so zealously and so
actively for their benefit, is the object of this work.

We may venture to assert that the time of Charlemagne
is more celebrated than known, and that the founder of the new Roman German
empire has found more panegyrists than historians. A character like that of
Charles is too dazzling to admit of our beholding, at the first glance, the
surrounding objects so as to distinguish them clearly. But after accustoming
ourselves to gaze longer upon it, the inquiring eye will discover other forms
beaming, not undeservedly, with a ray of glory reflected from the principal
figure. The more accurately we can judge of men by those who surround them, the
more necessary and instructive becomes the contemplation of their characters. A
prince who is a mere warrior delights only in those hardy pursuits inseparable
from a soldier’s life, and seeks his friends and confidants in the army. A
ruler who is a mere politician prefers the statesman to the soldier. When,
however, a prince like Charlemagne, and others who have shared, or at least
deserved to share, the same epithet, combines the ardor for conquest with the
love of literature, the sword and the pen will be held in equal estimation; he
will attach himself most intimately to those who have won his confidence by a
similar direction of mind, and have manifested the desire and the ability to
promote the welfare of his subjects. One single man, even on a throne, can
accomplish but little without the cooperation of kindred spirits. When,
therefore, a sovereign possesses an intellect sufficiently capacious to embrace
noble designs, and an eye to discern, amid the multitude, those whose energy
and talents best fit them for the execution of his plans, he is justly
celebrated; his memory is held in grateful honor, and his example commended to
posterity. To him belongs the rare talent of availing himself of the various
powers of others, and of uniting them for the attainment of one object. Not
equity alone, therefore, requires, but it is indispensable to the right
understanding of facts, that justice should be rendered to the individual who
labored successfully for this object. The man whose life forms the subject of
this work, devoted his energies to the execution of Charles’ noble project of
advancing his subjects towards that civilization, the light of which still
lingered on the ruins of antiquity. This man was Alcuin; and who can be a more
proper representative of this honorable and distinguishing characteristic of
Charles’ reign, than he to whom the king was indebted for the chief of his
learning, his children for the whole of their mental attainments, and such of
the young Franks as evinced either inclination or ability for study, for all
their knowledge? He formed, to a certain extent, the center of the awakened
energies of this period; not because he was the only man remarkable for
literary acquirements, but because he had pursued all the paths of knowledge
which at that time lay open to the human mind. Neither splendid actions nor
marvelous adventures, nor any of those striking incidents that are calculated
to arouse and gratify curiosity, distinguish the life of Alcuin from that of
ordinary men; for his combats with the devil, and his miracles, belong to
legends rather than to history. But the successful labors of the confidant and
instructor of Charlemagne will prove, to the reflecting lover of history, a
more effectual recommendation than the most dazzling achievements of others
more renowned. If the investigation of the development of the human mind under
its different manifestations, be the most important subject of history, our
attention must be chiefly directed to those individuals who have prosecuted,
with the greatest ardor and success, some one of the pursuits of their day.
Their influence upon their own times increases in proportion as they are
animated by the universal spirit of the community, comprehend and unite in
themselves the various attainments of individuals, and advance them to a
perfection sufficient to constitute a new era in the progress of the human
mind. In times so remote, so destitute of various and complicated interests,
and so deficient in contemporary records as those of Charlemagne, we must be
contented to produce the king as the representative of the political and
military state, and one other personage to represent the literary and religious
character of the times. With this view, we have examined and exhibited the life
and works of Alcuin. We shall first describe the state of Anglo-Saxon
civilization at that period, in order to show more clearly Alcuin’s literary
attainments. We shall afterwards accompany him to a more extensive and
interesting sphere of action, where, without the adventitious aid of external
dignity, which his modesty always declined, he for years effected more than was
accomplished by prelates adorned with the most splendid titles.